2026 Land Rover Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE Review: Skip the V8

I expected to want the V8.

That is usually how this goes. You drive the eight-cylinder version of something, you drive the six, and the six is the sensible choice you write about respectfully while quietly wishing you were back in the other one.

That is not what happened here.

After a week and a half with the 2026 Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE and its twin-turbocharged inline-six, I came away preferring it to the V8 Defender I had driven previously. Not tolerating it. Preferring it.

Our tester was a 2026 Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE finished in Borasco Grey over Ebony Windsor Leather. Equipped with the Off-Road Pack, Advanced Off-Road Capability Pack, Air Suspension Pack, Premium Upgrade Interior Pack, Cold Climate Pack, head-up display, tow hitch receiver, and a long list of other options, it carried a total MSRP of $89,300 against a $75,200 base price.

Exterior Styling

The Defender still looks like nothing else on the road.

Land Rover took an enormous risk reviving this nameplate with a design this modern, and years later it has aged into something close to iconic. The upright glasshouse, the short overhangs, the exposed rear recovery eyes, the flat panels — it reads as purposeful rather than styled.

In Borasco Grey, a $950 option, the X-Dynamic trim's darker exterior detailing works especially well. It looks expensive without looking soft.

The 20-inch wheels come with a spare, which sounds mundane until you consider how many nominally off-road vehicles have quietly deleted theirs.

One detail I did not expect to become a running theme: the rear door is heavy. Genuinely heavy, in a way that feels less like a car door and more like closing a safe. It is a small thing, and it tells you something about how this vehicle is built.

Powertrain and Performance

Under the hood is a 3.0-liter mild-hybrid inline-six producing 395 horsepower and 406 lb-ft of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive with a twin-speed transfer box.

This is the powertrain I came around on.

The six is smooth, responsive, and strong through the middle of the rev range, which is exactly where a vehicle this size actually lives. The V8 is more dramatic. The six is better suited to what the Defender is for. It gets the truck moving with real authority without ever feeling like it is straining or showing off.

The mild-hybrid system smooths out the low end, and the eight-speed does its job without calling attention to itself. Land Rover rates it to tow 8,200 pounds.

Fuel economy is 18 mpg city, 22 highway, and 20 combined. The window sticker is blunt about what that means: roughly $7,000 more in fuel costs over five years than the average new vehicle. That is the price of admission here, and it applies to the V8 even more harshly.

Off-Road Capability

The hardware on this tester is serious.

The Off-Road Pack adds an electronic active differential, Wade Sensing, and all-terrain tires. The Advanced Off-Road Capability Pack brings All-Terrain Progress Control, Terrain Response 2, and configurable Terrain Response. The Air Suspension Pack adds electronic air suspension with adaptive dynamics.

Add Hill Descent Control, the twin-speed transfer box, and those exposed rear recovery eyes, and the Defender is equipped to go considerably further than most owners will ever take it.

That is not a criticism. It is the entire point of the badge.

Interior and Technology

Inside, the X-Dynamic SE with the Premium Upgrade Interior Pack is a genuinely lovely place to sit.

The Ebony Windsor Leather is excellent, and the package adds a leather steering wheel, extended leather, and 14-way heated and cooled memory front seats. The tester also included the Interior Protection Pack, Cabin Air Purification Plus, and three-zone climate control.

A 13.1-inch Pivi Pro display handles infotainment, joined by a head-up display, a 700-watt Meridian surround sound system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a configurable interactive driver display. The panoramic roof and durable rubber cabin flooring coexist without either feeling out of place, which is a neat trick.

The 40:20:40 split-fold rear seats give the 110 real flexibility, and cargo capacity reaches 78.8 cubic feet with them folded.

Driving Impressions

The Defender drives like a boss vehicle.

I mean that literally — it makes you feel like one. There is a commanding, slightly ceremonial quality to sitting up in a Defender that very few vehicles deliver, and Land Rover has always understood that this feeling is a large part of what people are actually buying.

But it also just drives well. The air suspension does an excellent job of managing the mass, the steering is more precise than the boxy shape implies, and it is composed at highway speed in a way that older body-on-frame off-roaders never were.

It is, in the nicest possible sense, a rich man's Jeep. It goes where a Wrangler goes, and it does it while heating and cooling your seats and playing something through 700 watts of Meridian.

Safety

The Defender comes with a comprehensive suite: emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, blind spot assist, rear traffic monitor, lane keep assist, driver condition monitor, a 3D surround camera, and traffic sign recognition with adaptive speed limiter.

The Monroney notes this vehicle had not yet been rated by the government for overall score, frontal crash, side crash, or rollover risk.

Value

At $89,300 as tested, this is a lot of money.

The base X-Dynamic SE opens at $75,200, and the options here add roughly $14,000 — much of it in hardware that genuinely improves the vehicle rather than just dressing it up. The Off-Road Pack, air suspension, and Advanced Off-Road Capability Pack are the ones I would keep.

The value argument depends entirely on what you compare it to. Against a loaded Wrangler it is expensive. Against a full-size luxury SUV it is competitive, and it will go places the luxury SUV cannot.

Warranty coverage runs four years/50,000 miles for the new vehicle and roadside assistance, with six years of unlimited-mileage corrosion coverage.

Final Thoughts

The 2026 Defender 110 X-Dynamic SE is the version of this truck I would actually buy.

The V8 is the one enthusiasts talk about. The inline-six is the one that fits what the Defender is: a large, capable, genuinely luxurious off-road vehicle meant to be lived with every day and taken somewhere difficult on the weekend.

It is capable.

It is beautifully built.

And it makes you feel like a boss every single time you get in it.

Skip the V8. You will not miss it.

Chung Score: 8.8/10

Pros:

• • 395 hp inline-six is better suited to the truck than the V8
• • Genuinely serious off-road hardware
• • Air suspension manages the mass beautifully
• • Superb interior materials and 14-way heated/cooled seats
• • 78.8 cubic feet of cargo space
• • 8,200-pound towing capacity
• • Build quality you can feel in the doors

Cons:

• • $89,300 as tested
• • 20 mpg combined, and the sticker estimates $7,000 in extra fuel costs over five years
• • Options add up quickly
• • Not yet crash-rated by NHTSA